Iran to press ahead with its own cryptocurrency, to avoid American sanctions

With sanctions due to come back in force in November, Iran looks to be definitely pressing ahead with its own cryptocurrency.

A state-issued cryptocurrency is coming in Iran, it’s been confirmed, with the country using it to help get around the upcoming reintroduction of economic and trade sanctions from America.

It’s been known for a while that this is an idea Iran had been considering. But now, according to Iranian media, it’s something very much in the offing from the Directorate For Scientific And Technological Affairs Of The Presidential Office.

As per the ISNA news agency, several companies are involved in the project, working in tandem with the Central Bank of Iran.

According to Alireza Daliri, the deputy for management and investment affairs at the aforementioned directorate, “we are trying to prepare the grounds to use a domestic digital currency in the country. This currency would facilitate the transfer of money (to and from) anywhere in the world”, crucially adding that “besides, it can help us at the time of sanctions”.

The sanctions are resulting from Donald Trump’s decision to remove America from the 2015 agreement with Iran over nuclear weapons. Trump also indicated that he would reimpose sanctions on Iran, that cover the buying of US dollars.

Those sanctions are due back in force by November, and it would be fair to assume that Iran would look to have its cryptocurrency in place around then. That said, no technical details of the currency have been released as of yet.